Coventry play champions Arsenal in Premier League opener

The new campaign will start on Friday, 21 August - 34 days after the World Cup final in the United States.

The Premier League season will end on Sunday, 30 May 2027, with the Champions League final six days later.

Both the start and end dates of the 2026-27 season are later than usual as a result of the World Cup.

There will be 33 rounds of weekend fixtures next term, with the remaining five taking place midweek.

The Premier League has said the schedule will be designed to "avoid domestic competition clashes with Uefa competition dates, wherever possible".

A joint-record nine Premier League teams have qualified for European competition next season.

Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United, Aston Villa and Liverpool will play in the Champions League.

Bournemouth, Sunderland and Crystal Palace will feature in the Europa League, with Brighton qualifying for the Conference League.

During the Christmas and New Year period, no two rounds of matches will take place within 60 hours of each other in keeping with commitments made to clubs to address congested schedules.

Last season, Manchester United's 1-0 win over Newcastle was the only Premier League game to take place on Boxing Day but a full round of fixtures will return on Saturday, 26 December.

Rather than the traditional three two-week international breaks during the opening months of the season, there will now be two.

September and October's international breaks will merge into a new three-week break beginning after the weekend of September 19/20, while November's two-week international break will remain.

There will be a change in the way Premier League referees judge hair-pulling next season after three players were sent off for the offence in 2025-26.

All three red cards for hair-pulling came through a video assistant referee review, but from next season, not every time a player is seen to pull an opponent's hair will they be dismissed.

Instead, greater emphasis will be placed on both the level of force and the intention.

Referees will be told to look for a "clear and deliberate action" which has "excessive force and/or brutality".

The change is intended to give more latitude to players who may accidentally hold on to an opponent's hair.

In addition, officials will be asked to place a greater emphasis on grappling and holding inside the area after it became commonplace on corners and set-pieces.

Referees will be told to pay much more attention to "holding actions that have clear material impact".

This includes players who are "clearly only focused on opponents and making a holding action".

A solution to stop goalkeeper "tactical timeouts" is also set to be introduced.

The tactic is used by managers to get new instructions to their players or to impact the momentum of the opposition.

The goalkeeper sits on the turf and signals for the physio and the other players rush to the technical area for a team talk.

The Premier League is discussing a solution before the new season while a new law to tackle general time-wasting by goalkeepers will be introduced.

If keepers delay a restart on a goal-kick, a referee can start a five-second countdown. If time runs out, the opposition will be given a corner.

The measures were agreed at the Premier League AGM earlier this month.